At the moment of Crisis:

Rigel fell through a series of tunnels in succession at high speed. With a grave expression, he readied his body for the impact. As soon as Rigel realized that he was near the ground, he kicked the tunnel wall to lower his speed.

Intense pain assaulted his mind as his leg received the brunt of the impact from free fall. However, he didn't stop, using the momentum, he turned around mid-air to kick with his other foot. In that brief moment of the stillness, Rigel turned around and slashed the wall with his knife which buried itself into the rock effectively halting him just a few meters above the ground.

Rigel breathed a sigh of relief and raised his head to glance at the tunnels. Though he couldn’t see the exit; he was fairly sure that he was more than three hundred meters below the ground level. Thinking about the various turn of events, Rigel gritted his teeth in anger and released his grip on the knife.

*Thud!*

Rigel quickly jumped the last few meters and reached the ground. He glanced at his legs and sighed in relief. An impact created by his body weight propelling at a high speed that should have at least broken his bones but Rigel sighed in amazement as he realized that his legs were perfectly fine.

"No wonder it's called the Paragon Body. Even though I feel a bit of pain, my legs are fine even after such an impact." Rigel mused silently.

Rigel turned his head around and watched the cave formations. There was only one exit other than the long tunnel. Anger boiled in Rigel's mind as he angrily kicked a rock.

“Don’t be angry Rigel,” Rudra warned in a calm voice.

“How can I be calm Rudra? You saw everything, didn’t you? I could have died in his hands. Why didn’t you help me?” Rigel asked in an angry voice.

Rudra’s eyebrows finally furrowed as he listened to Rigel's unreasonable words. That moment, killing intent surged out of Rudra like an avalanche. That killing intent was like a tyrannical force, but it wasn’t aimed at Rigel. However, Rigel still fell to his knees unable to withstand the pressure.

That moment, Rigel was once again reminded of Rudra's almighty power. He could even invade his soul with just his divine will. If Rudra had directed his killing intent towards him, he might have directly lost his consciousness.

Rudra sighed lightly and closed his eyes while withdrawing his killing intent. Rigel watched Rudra and sighed in his heart. He knew that he had been too rash and blamed it all on Rudra. Truthfully, it was no one’s fault.

Everything that happened in there was out of Rigel’s control and was naturally out of Rudra’s expectations.

“I am sorry Rudra; I was unable to control my emotions.” Rigel apologized in a quiet voice.

Rudra opened his eyes and stared at Rigel. He knew that he was a bit harsh, but he needed Rigel to understand that anger won’t solve anything.

Rudra sighed and said in a calm voice, “Rigel; actually, it’s good that you were thrown into these tunnels. Something big is currently happening in the Xia sect. I cannot sense the danger lurking in that sect, but one thing is for sure, it is no longer safe for you.

Leyden and Boler, both of them are in the mid spark formation stage while Ley is in the late spark formation stage. Above all, all three of them planned the entire thing together including Jiya’s murder to trap you.”

“WHAT?” Rigel shouted in horror as he heard Rudra. Learning that all three of them were involved wasn’t much of a shock to Rigel, but he was stunned by their cultivation bases. Mid Spark Formation stage. Rigel couldn’t help but question himself, "Why would experts of such station act as mere Qi condensation stage disciples?"

Rudra nodded his head confirming his words and said, “Three Spark Formation cultivators could have easily killed you in an instant but they didn’t. I can think of no other reason except that they were afraid to cause trouble which might draw unnecessary attention.

However, I find it hard to believe that they will simply let you go like this. Rigel, if I am right, we should be expecting someone soon.”

Rigel’s face became cold as he heard Rudra. He closed his eyes and sighed while leaning on the rock wall as he knew that he was in some serious trouble.

“Rudra, what should I do?” Rigel asked in a small voice. Before, Rigel always had only himself to rely on through thick and thin, but now he had Rudra, who could share his wisdom.

Rudra sighed as he said, "Rigel, we have no information regarding these tunnels. Even though your body appears fine, it is not in its peak condition. The fall earlier has taken a toll on your body. If you fight as you are now, you might encounter some serious trouble. So our priority is to get you back into your peak condition.

Take out the third-grade spirit core; I am going to concoct a pill right now."

Rigel nodded his head and took out the spirit core and the Gamalgam root. Rudra nodded his head and listed some more materials already in Rigel's possession.

Rigel slowly sat down and watched as Rudra lifted the Gamalgam root into the air with his spiritual energy. He heaved a sigh and raised his hand, and a small black flame appeared. The flame looked extremely ordinary, but Rigel felt that the it was very similar to the Asura Poison, only it was a bit more conservative.

As the flame approached the Gamalgam root, it began to burn due to the sheer heat produced by it. However, unlike regular burning, the root didn’t turn into ashes, it was instead slowly withering while clear droplets were slowly drawn out of the withering root.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Those droplets were the actual Gamalgam essence. Rudra only narrowed his eyes as he then took the third-grade spirit crystal core and purified it with his black flame. The crystal core couldn't even resist the flame for a few seconds and was directly refined, leaving behind a large amount of elemental energy.

Rudra looked at Rigel, who was observing the entire process with concentrated eyes. He laughed and said in a calm voice, "This is catalysis, and this completes the first part of pill concoction."

Rigel nodded his head as he silently observed the process. The space between Rudra's palms began to twist causing the ingredients to start to merge under the control of his spiritual energy.

Rudra's eyes were serious as he concentrated on finding the point where the ingredients would achieve a complete fusion. A little earlier and the pill won't be as effective as it should be and a bit late, the pill concoction would fail. So no matter which tiers an alchemist is, he would have to be absolutely serious in the final part of concoction.

As soon as the essences coalesced, Rudra's hand made a swift grabbing motion and smoke emerged out of his tight palm. Rigel stood up and excitedly glanced at the hand. Rudra laughed lightly and slowly opened his fist, there in the middle of his palm was a pale white pill.

Rigel raised his hand and carefully grabbed the pill. He carefully inspected it and asked Rudra in a little voice, "What is this pill?"

Rudra smiled lightly and said, "It's called a Qi Congealing pill. It is one of the few third-grade pills which can be used to strengthen one's foundation.

It's useless for those in Spark Formation stage, but it is very useful for those in Qi condensation stage. You do know that a weak foundation will result in the formation of a weak spark, don't you?"

Rigel's face became excited as he looked at the pill. He almost wanted to pop it into his mouth immediately, but he gulped as he thought of something and asked in a low voice, "How much would this pill sell for Rudra?"

Rudra thought for a moment and said, "I can't say for sure, but I believe that it will have a market price of at least fifty thousand spirit stones."

Rigel drew in a deep breath as he looked at the pill. ‘Fifty thousand spirit stones, that was a fortune many would kill for.’ He then calmed down his heart and threw the pill into his mouth.

As the pill dissolved in his mouth, he felt boundless amounts of elemental energy enter his body. However, before he could absorb them, he heard Rudra's serious voice, "No, don't focus on absorbing the energy, Rigel. Try to strengthen your current foundation."

Rigel nodded his head and sat down cross-legged before starting to circulate the boundless energy in his meridians through his dantian. After he had finished cultivating the first cycle of Paragon Body, his dantian was now in a far better condition than it had ever been.

The profound art, Paragon Body, has two grand cycles with each having six cycles. At the beginning of each grand cycle, the first cycle and seventh cycle, the user’s body will be completely rebuilt from the scratch, and thus, any scars and injuries of the past will be completely healed.

Rigel's body slowly began to absorb the energy contained in the pill and began to solidify his recent breakthrough. Two hours passed and Rigel's cultivation base solidified after being strengthened by the Qi Congealing pill.

Rudra watched as he floated before Rigel. He narrowed his eyes as he sensed some movement within his spiritual range. Even though he would be able to unleash a much stronger spiritual sense with his physical body, in his spiritual projection form, his strength was greatly restricted. In this form, his spiritual range was limited to only three thousand meters.

He wanted to wake up Rigel but at the same time, he didn't want to, at least not until the last moment because Rigel was currently in the middle of a breakthrough. He kept a close look on Rigel as the people hurried towards them.

Rigel cultivation base began to grow after he finished strengthening his current cultivation. It slowly grew from the mid-stage of the third level to the late and then to the peak stage of the third level. Then, it began to slow down as it faced the barrier of a breakthrough.

Rigel's eyebrows furrowed as he too sensed some movement in his spiritual range. They were now just three hundred meters away from him. He stared at his dantian and the thick Qi flowing through his meridians while gritting his teeth in determination.

The large amount of Qi in his dantian shook violently and pushed harder as the people arrived at the cave. Rudra looked over at them. There were seven men, all of whom were in the late stages of Qi condensation.

An evil smile bloomed on their faces as they saw Rigel meditating in a corner. One among them ran towards Rigel while narrowing his eyes and drawing out two flying swords.

Rudra narrowed his eyes as the man neared and shouted, "Rigel." Right at the exact moment, a popping sound rang out in Rigel's dantian and the next instant, Rigel opened his eyes and stared coldly at the man in front of him.

His mouth twitched as he opened his palm where a black fog began to gather and said in a cold voice, "I’ve been waiting for you."

*****

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*****